When David Barber arrived in Bermuda in June, 1930 two days before his 17th birthday, all he had in his pockets was a little spending money his mother had given him.

Today, while the 91-year-old widower's bank balance is confidential, it is fair to say that he is a wealthy man whose philanthropy is so generous and his good deeds so well known that he just been honoured for them by the Queen in her recent birthday honours.

As proud as he is of all he has achieved throughout his life ? and his is a remarkable success story ? Mr. Barber remains a down-to-earth, unassuming man who thoroughly enjoys being a latter day Santa Claus.

The pleasure he experiences in helping others is palpable.

Asked what motivates him, the Welsh-born entrepreneur says philanthropy is a way of giving back to the Island he and his late wife, Mary, always loved.

"We never came across a place we would rather be than Bermuda. We took four world cruises of over 100 days each, as well as shorter cruises, and while we enjoyed them all and had a wonderful time, we were always keen to get home to Bermuda because it was always our favourite place. The Island has so much beauty about it."

Since 2000 Mr. Barber has made sizeable charitable donations to a wide variety of organisations, including schools, an art gallery, a museum, health and seniors-related groups and facilities, and of course the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, to whom he donated its cardiac diagnostic unit, and Project Action to whom he has donated two buses for the free use of seniors, with two more to come. To date, these donations ? all of which have been made in the name of his "loving wife Mary" ? exceed $2 million, even as he continues to consider assisting other projects and causes.

Not bad for a self-made man whose formal education ended at the age of 14.

How Mr. Barber wound up on this tiny, mid-Atlantic speck of land was through crafting a special trunk for his older brother, then serving as a saddler with the British Army at Prospect. Mr. Barber had been attending carpentry classes in London, where he lived, and had proved an apt and skilled student.

So when his brother came home on leave and commissioned the wooden trunk, he was happy to oblige. Expertly crafted with dovetailing, steel banding, and a lock, it was an impressive effort ? so much so, in fact, that when his brother returned to Bermuda, and the Customs officer tried to open the box without its missing key, he was so impressed he asked, "Who the hell made this?" and then suggested that David Barber would do well in Bermuda.

Eventually, with his mother's blessing, the teenager arrived here in 1930, and has lived here ever since.

Mr. Barber's first job was with the Royal Engineers at Prospect, who accepted him despite his being patently under age. He then he moved on to work in construction ? something that would pay dividends many times later on ? and retailing.

In March, 1946 Mr. Barber opened his first business. Noticing a restaurant, the Ship's Inn, over what is now the Guerlain building on Queen Street, he approached the then-Mr. Henry Vesey (later Sir Henry) with a view to buying it.

Eventually a deal was struck whereby the property's owners would upgrade the building in exchange for Mr. Barber running a first-class restaurant. Thus he travelled to New York to purchase all of the elegant furnishings, and the Hearthstone Restaurant duly opened.

"We had an elevated hearth at one end where we had log fires, and a wonderful cook named Clementine Smith who was famous for her omelettes," he said.

One year later, the neophyte restaurateur was offered the Coral Island Club on Flatts Inlet for ?25,000 ? a deal he successfully renegotiated downward to ?22,000, and secured with a ?2,000 deposit. Needing a mortgage for the rest, Mr. Barber approached the then-Henry (Jack) Tucker (later Sir Henry), general manager of the Bank of Bermuda, for a mortgage, and was turned down flat on the grounds that the structure was dilapidated.

"I know that property well. For your own good I will not help you," Mr. Tucker said firmly.

Undeterred, Mr. Barber then approached the Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Ltd., where Jay Gould, a new trust officer from Canada, was more receptive. He listened and promised to put Mr. Barber's application before the board. In due course it was approved.

"So I transferred my money from the Bank of Bermuda to the Bank of Butterfield, and I've been there ever since," Mr. Barber says. "I didn't realise it then, but I had become a businessman."

With the United States Air Force (USAF) stationed at nearby Kindley Field, whose personnel were constantly seeking rental apartments and cottages, the new owner of the Coral Island Club had three cottages renovated and rented in two months, with 20 families occupying 17 apartments just six months later.

By 1952, Mr. Barber decided to phase out the apartments and become a hotelier, converting other portions of the property into guest accommodation and public rooms, including a dance floor. As the USAF reduced its crews in Bermuda, switching to tourism proved a fortuitous, and more profitable move.

Then, in 1960 the Bank of Butterfield told Mr. Barber it had a client who wanted to buy the hotel.

"It took me by surprise, but I thought about it and said, 'Send the client over, maybe it will be'," he relates. "When I hung up, somebody said, 'Sell it David, you can't take it with you', so I sold it for ?100,000, and as I was sitting pretty I decided to retire on February 1, 1960."

Two months into his first "retirement" the ex-hotelier bought the block-deep Sunshine Laundry building, which went from Front Street to Reid Street. He knew exactly what he wanted to do with it, and plans were drawn up in consultation with architect Walter Stevens.

When the lowest bid for the work was quoted at ?56,000 Mr. Barber rented the necessary construction equipment, rolled up his sleeves, and did the work himself. Fourteen months later, the 'Argus Building' was finished at a cost of ?27,000. Bowing to a request from the eponymous insurance company, Mr. Barber agreed to change the name, and the 40 Thieves nightclub, Gorham Ltd. and the Knick Knack store became his tenants.

So far, so good, but in 1964 the debt-ridden owner of the Coral Island hotel sold it back to Mr. Barber - a decision that did not sit well with his normally-supportive wife, so he made her a promise: he would spend just ?25,000 on renovations that would make her proud. True to his word, the upgrading, which included verandas with sliding glass doors off every room facing the Inlet, proved so attractive that the hotel's facade was featured on the cover of Time magazine, and in the Chicago Herald Tribune. Later, a heated swimming pool boosted occupancy and took the hotel to new heights, thanks too to excellent staff.

Overtures in 1969 and 1970 by Gordon Curry, president of Clydesdale Commonwealth Hotels Ltd. of Glasgow, Scotland, to purchase the hotel were initially turned down by Mr. Barber, who later changed his mind and sold it for ?480,000 on condition that Clydesdale kept the existing staff for at least a year.

Mr. Barber laughs when he recalls attending a function shortly thereafter at which his presence was announced as "David (Howard Hughes) Barber, the only man who could sell the same hotel twice and come up smelling of roses", and a woman approached him "to touch a millionaire".

In 1971 the hotelier purchased the Banana Beach Club in Warwick for ?660,000, renovated and improved it, and invited Middy Arthur, a loyal and trusted employee from the Coral Island Club days, to manage the property, which she did until he sold it in 1988.

"I then retired for the third time, and this time it was final," Mr. Barber says.

Then, as now, he and his beloved wife continued to travel extensively and enjoy life. Hailing from Glasgow, Scotland, in the 1930s Mary was a frequent visitor to Bermuda as the companion of a wealthy American woman, and she met her future husband at a dance at the Armoury on Reid Street in 1932. They kept in touch, and eventually married in 1937. Although the couple had no children, it was a wonderful, happy marriage of just a shade under 59 years until Mrs. Barber's death in June, 1996.

While it is clear Mr. Barber still misses the woman who was a constant source of support and encouragement throughout their long years together, and he frequently speaks of her in the present tense, he is by no means letting life pass him by. He still plays golf, loves to travel, is a snappy dresser with a wonderful wardrobe of exotic evening jackets, has a calendar filled with engagements, and recently hosted a 91st birthday party at his home at which he gave a 20-minute speech.

Construction still interests him - so much so, in fact, that he is about to add a third storey to his home so that he can at last regain the magnificent harbour views of which the original ACE building deprived him, despite the vigorous legal battle he and Mrs. Barber waged.

The Queen's birthday honour came as a complete surprise, which Mr. Barber modestly admits he was "very pleased" to receive; but the greatest pleasure of all for this charming, sharp-witted philanthropist comes from being able to help others.

"That has made me very happy, and I am very pleased to be in a position to give money away. I have no children," he says. Since many of these donations have been linked to educational facilities, he adds that, since his own formal education stopped at age 14, he particularly enjoys enhancing opportunities for others.